Updated 25 May 2025 at 18:17 IST
Pakistan perceives India as an existential threat and is modernizing its nuclear arsenal with support from China, according to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s Worldwide Threat Assessment Report for 2025.
“Pakistan regards India as an existential threat and will continue to pursue its military modernization effort, including the development of battlefield nuclear weapons, to offset India’s conventional military advantage,” the report states.
The assessment also notes that “Pakistan is modernizing its nuclear arsenal and maintaining the security of its nuclear materials and nuclear command and control. Pakistan almost certainly procures WMD-applicable goods from foreign suppliers and intermediaries.” (WMD refers to Weapons of Mass Destruction.)
The report further acknowledges China's support for Pakistan’s WMD programs and highlights friction between the two countries following the killing of seven Chinese nationals in terrorist attacks in Pakistan in 2024.
“Foreign materials and technology supporting Pakistan’s WMD programs are very likely acquired primarily from suppliers in China, and are sometimes transshipped through Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. However, terrorist attacks targeting Chinese workers supporting China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects have emerged as a point of friction between the two countries; seven Chinese nationals were killed in Pakistan in 2024,” the report notes.
Additionally, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency states that the Pakistani military's top priorities include cross-border skirmishes with regional neighbors and nuclear modernization, among other strategic objectives.
The report predicts that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will focus on global leadership, countering China, and strengthening India's military might.
“India views China as its primary adversary and Pakistan more an ancillary security problem to be managed, despite cross-border attacks in mid-May by both India's and Pakistan's militaries,” the report says.
This revelations and forecasts in the report comes amid the tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 which killed 26 people including a foreign tourist and India's subsequent retaliation with Operation Sindoor to target terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Published 25 May 2025 at 18:17 IST